


Paying the Piper

by RogueWolf



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Biting, Feels, Hand Jobs, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Porn With Plot, Scratching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-23 22:19:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6131918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RogueWolf/pseuds/RogueWolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They say that knowledge comes at a price. What they don't say is that guilt demands an even higher price. All Roman wants to do is keep from hurting one of the few people he has ever loved, but it's time to pay the piper, and he can only hope that Junior can handle it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paying the Piper

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a happy little thing, based off a prompt from AniPendragon. It ended up being almost four times longer than I expected and a lot more angsty.

It was almost a week before Roman had been able to make it back to Beacon. A week of coordinating supply drops with the White Fang and making sure that the dust they had managed to steal was sent to the correct people. It was boring work, compounded by the fact that most of the time he was stuck underground with no signal for his scroll, but it was necessary. As boring as it might be, Roman much preferred staring at the plans and missives, than thinking about having to tell Junior that he’d lost his men.

He waited a day after getting back before heading over to Junior’s club. The club was dark, it was almost dawn after all, which was part of the reason Roman had picked that time to drop by. The only light still on was from Junior’s apartment above the club. Roman stared at it, twisting his cane nervously in his hands, before sighing and walking forward.

He ignored the main entrance – Junior refused to answer it until after noon once he closed up – and headed for the fire escape. It was child’s play to swing himself up onto the first landing and then make his way up the steps until he was standing in front of the window looking into Junior’s apartment.

Junior was at his desk; he was hunched over, staring at his hands. Roman frowned and looked closer then swallowed hard. Junior was tumbling the tie pin Roman had given him for his birthday between his fingers. The streetlights glinted off the tiny garnets in the bear’s eyes and Roman swallowed again. He couldn’t keep putting this off; Junior deserved better than that.

Roman reached out, hesitated, and then rapped his cane against the window. Junior flinched and spun, his hand flying to his weapon resting next to him. He froze when he saw Roman and Roman gave him a little wave. “Mind if I come in? It’s a little bit cold out here.”

Junior narrowed his eyes but let stood up and moved over. He pushed the window up, ignoring the hinges’ squealing, and Roman slipped in. Junior closed the window, but didn’t turn around. “What are you doing here, Roman?” His voice was empty, cold, and Roman hated himself in that instance. “It’s been over a week since I’ve heard from you,” Junior continued, “and my men have not returned. You said you’d only need them for one night.”

Junior turned around and Roman finally saw how red Junior’s eyes were, the way he held himself as though he might break if someone touched him. “Their families have been here, asking where they are.” He turned that bleak gaze to Roman. “I’ve had to lie to them, Roman. Tell them that they’re on a long-term mission because I didn’t know what happened to them.” His fists clenched and he took a deep breath. “Every time they asked, _every time_ , I lied because I trusted you. I trusted that you would be bring them _back._ ”

His voice cracked on the last word and Roman reached out instinctually, wanting to comfort Junior, but Junior knocked his hand away. He took a slow breath, then another, and Roman just stood there, feeling helpless.

“I thought you were gone,” Junior finally said. He sounded lost, as though he didn’t know what to do after confessing his secret to Roman. “I told myself that if you were still alive you would contact me, let me know you were all right.” He blinked teary eyes at Roman. “But you didn’t. You just…left.”

“Junior,” Roman whispered. He reached out again, and this time Junior didn’t push him away. Roman wrapped his arms around Junior, held him close, but Junior didn’t respond. Roman leaned back, saw the way Junior was staring blankly at him, the tears that refused to fall. “Oh Junior,” Roman whispered again, “I’m so sorry.”

He twined his fingers through Junior’s and backed up, leading Junior away from the window towards the door leading to his bedroom. Junior followed, silent and unresisting, and Roman nudged him towards the bed. Junior sat down and Roman went about removing his tie, vest, shirt; he knelt to pull off Junior’s shoes and then pulled off his pants, leaving Junior in nothing but his boxers.

Roman frowned at the bed, wondering where the blanket had gone, before shrugging and going to Junior’s closet and tugging out the spare. He toed his shoes off on the way back and stripped out of his own clothes, leaving only his undershirt and boxers. He crawled onto the bed and placed a gentle hand on Junior’s cheek. “Can you lay down for me?”

Junior nodded and lay down to curl up on his side. Roman flipped the blanket over them both and then lay down as well, facing Junior. They stared at each other for a long time, Junior solemn, Roman scared, before Junior asked, “Why?”

Roman wanted to look elsewhere, didn’t want to see the hurt in Junior’s eyes. “I didn’t mean to,” he blurted. “At first it was because we needed to leave, and then we didn’t have signal. And afterwards…” He stopped, tongue heavy in his mouth.

“And then?” Junior prompted.

“How could I come back?” Roman said hoarsely. He cleared his throat nervously. “It was supposed to be a simple hit, nothing I hadn’t done thousands of times. There shouldn’t have been _any_ trouble, but…” Roman closed his eyes, unable to look at Junior anymore. “I failed,” he said softly. “I failed you by not bringing them back. So how could I come back, knowing what I’d done?”

He couldn’t see Junior move but he felt him; Junior’s hand rested on his cheek, comforting and familiar, but Roman bit his lip. He didn’t deserve this.

“So you thought the best idea was to just run away?”

“No!” Roman said, his eyes snapping open. “No, never! But,” he sucked in a breath, “but Junior, I…what I did?”

“What you did was react,” Junior said. “It …” it was his turn to stop and take a deep breath. “The way you handled it was maybe not the best. You should have trusted me.” He covered Roman’s mouth with his hand when Roman started to speak. “Hush and let me finish. I know you trust me, and that I trust you. But that’s always been between us; no henchmen, no outsiders, just us. And that’s different and something we’ve never experienced before. I’m not saying I approve,” he paused and frowned thoughtfully, “but I can _understand_.”

He leaned in until their foreheads were touching and moved his hand off Roman’s mouth. “I understand why you couldn’t come to me. But what hurts, Roman, is that you didn’t at least tell me you were _alive_.”

“I’m sorry,” Roman choked out, “I didn’t want to hurt you, Junior.”

“I know,” Junior said softly. He kissed the tip of Roman’s nose, “I know.” And then his lips were on Roman’s and Roman shuddered and kissed back, trying to apologize with his lips and tongue.

Junior cupped Roman’s face in his hands and rubbed his thumbs over his cheekbones. “The thought of losing you was the worst thing I could imagine,” he murmured. “I want you here, in my bed. I want you and Neo ordering drinks that she can’t have; I want to hear you singing to the music, I want to dance with you and have the girls make fun of us.” He kissed Roman softly, slowly. “I don’t want to lose you again,” he murmured against Roman’s lips. “But we both know that living is not a guaranteed bet, not for either of us with the lives we lead. So we will do the best we can, and make the most of the time we have.”

Roman gave a watery laugh and clutched at Junior’s hands. “You make that sound so easy.”

“That’s because it is,” Junior told him, and leaned in for another kiss.

It wasn’t like the others, where Junior had been sweet and gentle. Now he was demanding, his teeth biting at Roman’s lips until he opened his mouth and Junior could kiss him as hard as he could. Junior rolled them so that Roman was on his back, Junior above him, and then he was kissing him again. Roman wasn’t certain how long they had been kissing, only that they were both gasping for air, when Junior ran his hand down Roman’s body, tracing his muscles and settling on his hip.

Roman was hard, had been desperately hard for some time now, and he groaned when Junior ground down against him, the friction almost overwhelming. “Touch me,” Junior gasped, and Roman eagerly obliged. He ran his hands down Junior’s back, nails scratching, and Junior moaned low in his throat. “Harder,” he ordered, and Roman pressed down, felt the skin break as he clawed at Junior’s back.

Junior shivered and ground against him harder, and Roman could feel his hand tightening on his hip, knew there would be a bruise there, the way he knew that Junior’s back would be covered in welts and scratches.

Roman let his hand fall to cup Junior’s ass, the cotton of his boxers distracting, and Junior shifted so he could tug them off. He yanked at Roman’s and Roman quickly tilted his hips up, giving Junior room so that he could pull off his boxers before tugging off his shirt as well. Roman tossed his head back, groaning when Junior wrapped a hand around him and stroked him up and down firmly. It was rare for Junior to be this commanding in bed, to just take what he wanted, but Roman was enjoying it; he could feel his back arching, the way his toes were tingling and he knew it wouldn’t be long.

“Roman, don’t stop,” Junior rumbled above him, his voice deeper than Roman had ever heard. And Roman put his hands back on Junior’s ass, squeezed and dug his nails in and Junior jerked, hissed in a breath of air, and then his hand was gone. And Roman whined his displeasure but Junior wasn’t gone long. He wrapped a lube covered hand around Roman and the coldness made him yelp with surprise. But then Junior was kissing him, swallowing the sounds Roman made as Junior stroked him harder.

He was close, Roman was so close, that when Junior took his hand away a second time he thought he’d explode. He clawed his way up Roman’s back, uncaring if he scratched too hard, though Junior didn’t seem to mind; he huffed out a breath of laughter around a moan and wrapped his hand back around Roman’s cock. Except this time Junior was holding his cock too, and he was stroking them _both_ and Roman knew it, knew this was it and he wasn’t going to last long at all.

It didn’t long. Junior was running his mouth over Roman’s chest, biting softly and licking, one hand on Roman’s hip still, the other jerking them both off. He was going faster and Roman was struggling to breathe, when on the upstroke Junior suddenly flicked his tongue against Roman’s nipple and bit down _hard_ and Roman was coming with a wail. Junior stroked him through it, and it was a torture all its own. Roman was too sensitive, and it hurt, but he didn’t want Junior to stop. Junior moved his hands harder and faster than before and Roman felt his belly clenching as the pleasure overwhelmed him and then he dimly felt Junior coming. He could hear him grunting, trying to control his breathing as he came in his hand, spilling over to mix with the mess of come across Roman’s chest and stomach.

Roman closed his eyes, fighting for breath, and felt it when Junior collapsed on his stomach next to him with a groan. The room was silent, filled with just the sound of their harsh breathing, and then Roman started to laughing, hiccupping little burst of laughter that brought tears to his eyes.

“Roman?” Junior pushed himself up, staring at Roman worriedly. But Roman couldn’t say anything, could feel the tears coming, even as he tried to smile at Junior. “Ssh,” Junior said, “Sssshh.” And he gathered Roman up in his arms, ignoring the sticky mess on his front, and rocked him gently. And Roman felt something inside him break, felt suddenly hollow, and he latched onto Junior, suddenly struggling to breathe.

“Sssh…I’ve got you. I’ve got you, Roman,” Junior murmured over and over, rubbing Roman’s back and brushing his hair out of his face. He started a breathing pattern, one Roman vaguely remembered having _taught_ Junior once upon a time, and Roman followed along, the feel of Junior’s hands against him grounding, the breathing pattern soothing.

They stayed pressed together until Roman could breathe easily. He mumbled something at Junior and he pulled them both down to the bed. Junior grimaced at his messy fingers. “I should go-”

“No!” Roman said, and wrapped his arms and legs around Junior, clinging to him tightly. “I don’t want you to go.”

“I just need to get something to clean us up,” Junior explained, but Roman shook his head and buried it against Junior’s chest.

“Use my shirt,” he mumbled, “just don’t leave.”

“Alright,” Junior agreed. He pressed a kiss to Roman’s forehead and then leaned over to snag Roman’s shirt, where it was half on and half off the bed. He wiped them both off and then tossed the shirt in the direction of the laundry basket.

Junior tugged the blanket back over them and Roman sighed and snuggled closer. Junior curled his arms Roman, pulling his as closer as possible. Roman sighed, whether in relief or happiness, Junior couldn’t tell. His breathing slowed, settled out until Roman was asleep in Junior’s arms. Junior gazed down at him, listening to the steady breathes.

He ran a palm down Roman’s back and Roman snuggled closer. Junior sighed and tucked the blanket around them more securely; he closed his eyes, ignoring the the tears threatening to fall, and let himself sink into the oblivion of sleep.  


**Author's Note:**

> After re-reading this a few times, I'm not certain if hopeful ending is the correct tag here...but I'm going to leave it because at first it felt helpful to me.  
> As always, you can find me on tumblr [here](http://roguewolfprints.tumblr.com)


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